Auburn to return to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in 2020 to play this ACC team

On Sept. 1, Auburn will return to Atlanta to face Washington in the 2018 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. As it turns out, the Tigers have another Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game already lined up.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s JuliaKate E. Culpepper reported the Tigers will face North Carolina in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in 2020. The showdown between the Tigers and Tar Heels on September 12, 2020, will be the third of three Chick-fil-A games, with West Virginia and Florida State facing off Sept. 5 and Georgia and Virginia playing Sept. 7.

All three games will be played in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“We thought it was something unique to do in Week 2, and (Auburn and North Carolina) thought it made a lot of sense and they wanted to come play in Atlanta,” Peach Bowl Inc. CEO and President Gary Stokan told the AJC. “It’s a good recruiting base for both schools, a lot of alumni here and donors, and so to have three games in a week we thought was something unique to celebrate the capital of college football.”

Auburn’s game against North Carolina will be the fourth time the Tigers have participated in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. In addition to this year’s game against Washington, the Tigers lost to Clemson 26-19 in 2012 then beat Louisville 31-24 in 2015. North Carolina, meanwhile, is 0-2 in these games, losing to LSU 34-24 in 2010 and to Georgia 33-24 in 2016.

The meeting in 2020 will be the first time Auburn and North Carolina have played since the 2001 Peach Bowl.

“The Chick-fil-A Kickoff game has established itself as a premier season opener in college football and we look forward to being a part of it again in 2020 against a very good North Carolina program,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said in a statement. “It’s always great to play in Atlanta in front of a big crowd of Auburn fans.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2018 at 2:01 PM.